Scrapbook Creator

Recently, my niece asked me to create a scrapbook she could use for her bridal showers. She needed it to have a space for guests to sign in, as well as somewhere to record her gifts and who they were from, plus room for pictures afterward.

I struggled in the beginning with how to create a digital page that could also be written on, since digital pages are basically glossy photos. I finally decide to purchase the Ahni & Zoe (formerly Creative Memories) book, “Eat, Drink and Be Married“. The pages are 12×12 and while it is full of predesigned pages, they didn’t work for my purposes so I added my own blank white 12×12 pages into the cover. I then worked and worked to create the sign-in page in the 8.5×11 size. This seems like a pretty easy thing to do – until you have to do it! It was easy enough to find a nice background paper and some wedding type embellishments. The hard part was creating the lines and spacing them correctly! I looked and looked for an overlay with lines but couldn’t find one. Instead, I had to create a line, the copy and paste it over and over, then use the arrange tab to space them and center them. At first, they were too dark and harsh looking, and spaced too far apart (both things I couldn’t tell until I printed a test page). So I restarted and made the initial line smaller, then copied it as before. I reduced the space between the lines and once I had it like I wanted it (and it printed the way I wanted it), I saved it as an embellishment so I can overlay it easily n ow. Once the page was designed, I printed it on card stock, so it would be easy for guests to sign.

The background of the 12×12 page was done using traditional papers and stickers, and I then centered the 8.5×11 on it. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures of the pages once they were done, so I can’t show them here. The pages that weren’t for signing, I printed as a glossy photo on my photo printer. But I still had to mount them on traditional paper, since I can’t print 12×12 and I didn’t have time to order them online and have them printed.

From what she tells me, the book was a hit. I have promised to create pages with her pictures from the shower after she sends them to me, plus create a whole new set of pages for her other showers.

So with the impending 25th anniversary of Creative Memories, the sales have really been impressive. For the month of July (until the 25th anyway), all digital artwork has been marked 30% off. And since I get another 30% off that for being a consultant (heckofa deal!), means that if I purchase a digital kit, normally priced $8.95, the price is actually $4.38 (all before tax, of course). And since it’s all downloadable, there’s no shipping!

All that to say, I’ve been stocking up, fellers! I’ve bought all kinds of digital content that I’ve had my eye on for a long time, not to mention some of the new kits that have been just heavenly. I don’t know what it is about papers and embellishments, but since I started doing this (scrapbooking – not writing this blog article <grin>) in 1995, I have been enamored with papers and embellishments. In fact, I have a whole bunch of traditional papers that I came across cleaning out a closet recently. At least with the digital content, it doesn’t take up as much space!!!

So starting at the top of the page, let me explain what I’m working on. The top picture is just something I printed on my photo printer to hang in my kitchen. We use dimes as a way of monitoring the boys’ screen time (10 cents = 10 minutes) and every so often, we have to tweak the system. These are our new rules. I used 2 papers from the new Day to Day Digital Kit – one as a background, one overlaying it. I created the word art at the top using the Day to Day Alpha Set, then just added the text. The font is one I found on the internet for free, called Janda Silly Monkey.

The next image you see is from an album I have been trying to complete since…well, since I started scrapbooking digitally. It started as a Faithbook, but has morphed into more of a Day 2 Day album highlighting the years 2001-2009. I pulled this file off the shelf, dusted it off, updated it to Storybook Creator 4.0, and started changing the pages to reflect more of the options we have available to us now (versus when we started and only had a couple of fonts and just a few templates to use). The results have been just so fun! Since the pictures and journaling were already there, all I’ve had to do is change the template (I’m using the Cheerful 12X12 Predesigned pages for the most part, but this page I decided black was a better fit) and play with the embellishments.

In fact, just to show you how far the company has come, compare the 3rd picture with the 4th. 3 is the picture before I updated it; 4 is after. Isn’t it an amazing transformation??? Of course, I have a little more journaling to add, but that’s pretty much it. I expect to be done with this album by this weekend and then I’m going to ORDER IT!!! My new goal is to get these half finished albums off my hard drive and onto my shelves, so we can all enjoy them. And since albums are also on sale right now, it’s the perfect time!

Well, I’ve got work to do. Stay the course and let me know if I can help in any way!

Hurry to catch this one! Applies to online sales only, but take advantage while the sale is being extended.This great offer also includes product credits for Hardcover Personalized StoryBooks and You Create It Custom Albums. StoryBook options for additional pages and the lay-flat pages upgrade are also 25 percent off.

Not a Rewards Club member? You need to join. Members earn extra credit on most albums in this sale!

My ability to keep up with my website is obviously something I overestimated, time-wise. Nevertheless, I am scrapbooking again – a LOT – and so I’m going to start posting again. Here are some of my new favs:

The first is a page I created using a layout from my new favorite website: Pixels2Pages.net. It is a subscriber-only site that has new content practically every day. This page is going in my Day 2 Day album – another idea I got from P2P -and it may be my favorite page EVER. I used the kit “Color Vibe” and the Font is Arial (yes, I know – boring – but it works).

The next page is one made based on Challenge 105 on P2P. I’m not thrilled with how it turned out – next time I want to spend more time on the color scheme and placement of the word art – but it’s a great start and I learned some really cool techniques in the process!

If you haven’t been checking out the Creative Memories site regularly, you may have missed the new Digital Additions packages. The one I’m currently enamored with is the Martial Arts package, which just happens to be my middle son’s sport of choice.

I’m also working on a family album using calendar pages, and these have been great for that. In fact, I’m probably going to include the pages from the Martial Arts scrapbook I’m working on in the family album, as well. I am hoping to keep working on the Martial Arts album until he’s a black belt, and then give it to him as gift at that time. He’s already seen what I’m doing (all of my kids have an insatiable curiosity that requires them to know AT ALL TIMES what I am doing). But I figure by the time he completes all the belt tests, he will have forgotten the book. At least, I hope he does. That way, it will be a great surprise!

The best part for me is that I can do a couple of pages each time he moves to the next belt, so it’s not so overwhelming a project! And if Martial Arts in not your thing, chances are good CM has a package that is!